Field characteristic and prime subfields
A field has characteristic zero if no positive n satisfies n·1=0; otherwise its characteristic is a prime p.
Key knowledge
A field has characteristic zero if no positive n satisfies n·1=0; otherwise its characteristic is a prime p. It contains a copy of Q in characteristic zero or Fₚ in characteristic p.
Conditions and scope
- Use a nontrivial field and preserve its identity.
- Characteristic measures repeated addition, not the total number of elements.
Sources · 1
References
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Evidence and review
Definition 18.4, domain characteristic argument and Example 18.5; prime-subfield conclusion follows using the fraction-field embedding.
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